Founders

Prof. Dr. Zeynep Alemdar is the dean of the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences and the director of the Gender Studies Research and Application Center at Istanbul Okan University.  Alemdar's research focuses on democratization, civil society, women's roles in conflict processes and international organizations. Her articles has been published in Middle Eastern Studies , New Perspectives on Turkey , European Journal of Turkish Studies and Uluslararası İlişkiler.

 

She has been a consultant for many international organizations, including the World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations Women's Unit, in projects ranging from women's participation in decision-making mechanisms to the mainstreaming of gender equality in different sectors; organized trainings, workshops, and carried out monitoring and evaluations. Her studies on new generation leadership, diversity, equality, inclusion and women's leadership are published in different media outlets.

 

In 2014, she was selected by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, one of the prestigious think tanks of the USA, as one of the 40 Younger than 40 leaders of the EuroAtlantic Region. She is among the Senior Leaders of the European Leadership Network  and on the Board of Directors of the European Leadership Network , which brings together former heads of state and leaders from the USA and broader Europe in search of a secure future and peace.

 

She completed her BA in Economics from Galatasaray University, her MA in Patterson School of Diplomacy at the University of Kentucky, and her PhD in Political Science from the University of Kentucky.

Dr. Christina Bache specializes in conflict transformation and peace, business ethics, human security, and socioeconomic development in fragile and conflict-affected states. In addition to her extensive experience in risk assessments, social audit development and management, she conducts high-level research and analysis on human security, peace and the private sector for numerous NGOs and international organisations. Currently, she is a research affiliate at Queen's University in Belfast and an adjunct faculty member at the Brussels School of Governance. Previously, she was a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, IDEAS, and Visiting Fellow with the Wilfred Martens Centre for European Studies, the in-house think tank of the European People's Party. 

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Christina has held pro bono roles, including as Chair of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education, Working Group on Business for Peace, Co-Chair of the International Crisis Group's Ambassador Council and Administrator of the Syria Support Network

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Bache earned her BA and MA from the American University in Washington, DC, and received her PhD from the University of Warwick. Her dissertation focused on the private sector's impact on human (economic) security and peace in fragile and conflict-affected states. 

 

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Rana Birden, served as Economic Development Foundation Senior Research Specialist, European Union Civil Society Development Program Deputy Project Coordinator, Bahçeşehir University EU Research and Documentation Coordinator, Social Participation and Development Foundation Director, respectively, from 1999 to 2012. She has been a consultant to many foundations and associations such as Sabancı Foundation, Third Sector Foundation of Turkey and Charles Stewart Mott. From 2012 until 2014, she was the President of the Global Relations Forum. After working as a member of the Turkish European Foundation and C20 Executive Board between 2014 and 2016, she joined Kale Group in July 2016.

 

Birden completed her BA in International Relations at Galatasaray University in 1998 and her MA in European Union at Galatasaray University in 2005.

 

She is fluent in English and French.